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Paul and the earthquake

Paul, Silas, the prison in Philippi, the earthquake and the jailer.
Contributed by YO! Ministry
Story also available on our translated websites: Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, German, Hindi, Arabic
1
Paul gathered with other Christians in the city of Antioch. Together they prayed for God to direct them. Paul and Silas then joined together as a team to go on a second missionary journey back to Turkey. – Slide 1
2
Paul looked forward to visiting the churches he had helped to start during his first missionary trip. Paul and Silas visited Derbe and then Lystra. On his last visit to Lystra Paul had a very rough time. On this trip he was greeted by a new young Christian called Timothy. – Slide 2
3
Timothy joined Paul and Silas as they journeyed on to encourage the new churches. God interrupted Paul’s plans one night as he slept. Paul dreamed he saw a man of Macedonia asking him to come and preach the gospel to them. – Slide 3
4
Paul knew it was God’s will that they went to Macedonia, so they immediately travelled by sea and land in that direction. Paul, Silas and Timothy arrived in the leading Roman city in Macedonia called Philippi. – Slide 4
5
One morning Paul, Silas and Timothy went to pray by the river. They meet some woman praying on there. One woman called Lydia listened to the gospel spoken by Paul. God opened her heart and she believed in Jesus as her Lord and Saviour. – Slide 5
6
Lydia could not wait to share the good news about Jesus to her whole household. They too believed and were baptized. After the baptism, Lydia urged Paul, Silas and Timothy to stay at her home. – Slide 6
7
As Paul and Silas walked in Philippi, a fortune-telling slave girl followed them. The girl irritated them by yelling over and over again, ‘These men are bond servants of the Most High God who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.’ – Slide 7
8
After many days of being annoyed, Paul turned to the fortune-teller and said, ‘I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!’ The evil spirit left the slave girl. From then on she could not tell anyone’s fortune. – Slide 8
9
The owners of the slave girl were very angry when she could no longer tell fortunes. They were no longer able to make money from her fortune-telling and accused Paul of ruining their business. – Slide 9
10
The owners dragged Paul and Silas into the marketplace to be judged by the authorities. Many people were angry and joined up with the slave owners. So the judge ordered Paul and Silas to be beaten and locked up in prison. – Slide 10
11
Everything seemed to go wrong. Paul and Silas knew God was in control. Instead of complaining and yelling at the prison guard they sang praises to God. Imagine how strange this seemed to the other prisoners. – Slide 11
12
About midnight a great earthquake shook and shocked everyone. The guard saw the prison doors were opened and thought the prisoners had escaped. So he took a sword to kill himself. Paul yelled, ‘Do not harm yourself.’ – Slide 12
13
Paul told the guard that no prisoner left or escaped. Desperately the guard asked Paul and Silas, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ They said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ – Slide 13
14
The guard took Paul and Silas to his home. That night the guard’s family believed in Jesus. Right away they were all baptised. The family washed Paul and Silas’ wounds and fed them a good meal. They all rejoiced and Paul and Silas were freed that same morning. – Slide 14
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Slide 15